Lack of software engineering talent 'could derail London’s Tech City'

[lilelvis2000]

I think I still have shares from a silicon valley startup I joined (UK Office). I was looking for another job six months after I joined when they went tits up.

People were honestly looking up boats and where to put them in the med while the more realistic of us were thinking 'this is never going to work'.

25 million VC and no actual working product was ever made.

Didn't Boo.com go through $125m and only had about $30,000 in sales?

[AtW]

Didn't Boo.com go through $125m and only had about $30,000 in sales?

They had the best people though making that expensive flash site

On the other side their failure fecked up our startup that planned to IPO a month later - if that happened I'd be house owner back in 2000 and taking the piss at renters on this forum

[eek]

Didn't Boo.com go through $125m and only had about $30,000 in sales?

Do you mind I believe it was nearer £125m or $188m. As for sales I know I spent £500 while working there so that figure could be slightly out (the staff discount at one point was 90% so I got a lifetimes supplier of north face gear).

[AtW]

Do you mind I believe it was nearer £125m or $188m. As for sales I know I spent £500 while working there so that figure could be slightly out (the staff discount at one point was 90% so I got a lifetimes supplier of north face gear).

So it's your fault??!?!

I'll see you later today at the nearest Armani store!

[shaunbhoy]

if that happened I'd be house owner back in 2000 and taking the piss at renters on this forum

But as it stands, you are a rocket-polishing rentboy yourself, dreaming of your own sofa, handgun, and a girlfriend whose surname is not jpeg!!!

[SueEllen]

Do you mind I believe it was nearer £125m or $188m. As for sales I know I spent £500 while working there so that figure could be slightly out (the staff discount at one point was 90% so I got a lifetimes supplier of north face gear).

Considering you were the only feckers who could get online in the UK I'm not surprised.

The vast majority of people in the UK used dial-up at home if they had an internet connection.

[Clever Hans]

I suppose you do realize the best developers are at least 50 times more productive than the average, competent joe shmoe?

And you need the best for a high-tech startup, at least until it is established.

The 'rockstar' (ugh) to average programmer productivity rate is normally quoted as about 10 to 1; though the salary on offer from companies requiring them doesn't seem to reflect that.

Nice to have no doubt, but any business model, high tech startup or otherwise, based around the performance of hard to replace individuals is rather dubious I would have thought.

[eek]

Considering you were the only feckers who could get online in the UK I'm not surprised.

The vast majority of people in the UK used dial-up at home if they had an internet connection.

I did integration work rather than the front end (I remember rewriting the entire customer service system over two weekends). The number of developers on the front end was insane, many of them actually were.

As for internet connections I didn't have any problems working from home via my cable modem (a fast 512kb line).

[Clever Hans]

I read it in a very authoritative source.

But, not being as organised as Nick F, I forget where. You'll just have to take my word for it.

A misquoting of McConnell, perhaps? He claims 10 to 1 with sources and rebuttal to counter-claims here.

[lilelvis2000]

Do you mind I believe it was nearer £125m or $188m. As for sales I know I spent £500 while working there so that figure could be slightly out (the staff discount at one point was 90% so I got a lifetimes supplier of north face gear).

Cool, you're part of history. How NOT to run a startup! Apparently Boo had something like 400 staff and could have been run with like 50!
though my memory is fuzzy..


I'll have to pull boo hoo off my bookshelf and see if you're mentioned.